Hat on Top, Coat Below

Beast of Burden

October 3, 2008

Today we’re going to play “What’s in Karen’s Bag”. It contains many things, but unfortunately my iPod was nowhere among them this morning. This meant I had to go for my run in the pre-dawn chill with only the voices in my head to keep me company (supplemented by my labored breathing and uneven footfalls—I seem to drag my left foot a bit now and again). It was a bit disorienting not knowing the things I’ve come rely on the Nike+ to tell me and a bit annoying when my brain decided to sing one song over and over (Nottingham Ale), but it was probably good for me to get a change of pace. So, let’s see what I had stuffed in my backpack instead of my nano:

— Lärabar, key lime pie flavor. Not even close to its expiration date—go me!

— Camera, in case, with PC cable in the back pocket.

— Flannel shoe mitt I sometimes use to put the camera in when the case is too bulky to fit wherever it is I want to carry the camera.

— Planner, which I use for to do lists. (I keep my calendar online.)

— Packet of blank Filofax paper that fits in my planner. Yes, the planner is also in the bag. No, I haven’t put the paper in the planner.

— Ziploc bag containing three kinds of throat lozenges and one kind of decongestant (the good kind, the kind one has to sign for at the drugstore because it can be used to make meth). Leftover from my July sickness. Sigh.

— Two—no, make that three—empty plastic bags.

— Notebook of information about my mom’s finances and medications and stuff. I really do not need to have this near me at all times, especially now that her health is better and she’s taking care of her own bills and things.

— Miscellaneous objects: a set of keys to my office desk drawers, two pens (one green and one pink), Sally Hansen Natural Shine not quite nail polish (most recently applied at red lights while driving to work earlier this week), scraps of sock yarn (why? I don’t knit at work).

— Folder with checklists on the projects I’m working on for DP. Work has been so crazy recently that I’ve been doing no DP stuff. I thought I might get some time on the days I worked at home, since I’d save the two commute hours, but no.

— Folder with pages torn out of magazines featuring things I thought I might like to buy, read, or do. I intend to go through these and decide which I was still interested in and transfer them to the appropriate lists in my planner.

— Three Sierra Trading Post catalogs and a bunch of pages torn from other Sierra Trading Post catalogs because I thought I might order some stuff soon. I don’t need more stuff.

— Many, many papers that need to be filed or recycled but most definitely do not need to be carried around day after day. Examples include: two expired Bed Bath & Beyond coupons from August (I do not recall the last time I was in a Bed Bath & Beyond), a map to a party I went to last month or maybe that was in August as well, the quilt show program from July (used to give credit in captions on the photos I put up on Flickr).

And now I’ve put my nano in so I’ll have it this weekend (I’d put it in a desk drawer at work when I was cleaning up last night). Maybe I can listen to some podcasts while I clean out this bag.